Both of the other men were beardless, but one had the ghost of a moustache on his upper lip.  He was dapper, clean and deferential.  The other was short and somewhat ungainly in build, and his face showed evidence of the recent shaving off of a heavy beard.  He had no graces, and evidently no thoughts but of service—­service of any kind, so long as he recognized the authority demanding it.  His clothes did not suit him; they were rich enough, but they were not his kind.  A soldier of the ranks, a sailor before the mast, a laborer on Sunday, could have exchanged clothes with this man and profited in values, while the other would certainly have profited in looks.

“You did not see the other, then, Ivan?” the fat man asked, interrupting the story of his awkward guest.

“I did not, Excellency.  He came at me too quickly, and I had no idea there was anyone there besides myself and—­and the person who—­”

“Yes, yes.  The person who is now without a name.  Go on.”

“I was in the shrubs, near a great large tree that seemed to form part of a wall, when the two, the person and a lady, came back together.  She—­”

“Did they act as if they knew one another?”

The man smiled.  “Excellency, they acted as if they knew one another quite well.  They embraced.”

“That you did not see, Ivan?”

“No, Excellency, of course, I did not see that.”

“Proceed, Ivan.”

“After they—­parted, Excellency, the lady opened the tree and went into it.”

“Opened the tree?” The nervous fingers were stilled.

“Yes, Excellency.  It must have been a door.”

“Rather odd for America, I should say.  Eh, Wratslav?”

The dapper man bowed.  “As you say, Excellency, it is rather unusual in America.”

“Proceed, Ivan.”  The Minister resumed his thrumming.

“When the lady closed the tree and was gone, the—­ah—­person—­turned to go past me.  My gun had the silencer on which Your Excellency—­”

“You are forgetting again, Ivan.”  The half-closed eyes opened for an instant, and the steel was close underneath the velvet of the tone.

“Which Your Excellency has no doubt heard of.”

“Oh, yes—­Maxim’s.”

“My gun exploded—­but noiselessly, Excellency, because of the silencer—­just as the strange man jumped at me.  The—­ah—­person fell, and I ran.  The strange man followed and caught me.  I fought, but he knew where to hit; and when I awoke I was alone with the—­person—­who had, most unfortunately, been killed when the gun went off.  I came back and—­” he glanced at the one who had been called Wratslav—­“he came with me.”

The Minister looked inquiringly toward the dapper man, who then took up the story.

“We thought it better to dispose of the—­person, Excellency, and avoid—­”

“Exactly.  You did well.  That will do, Ivan.  You may return to your duties.”